Twenty Well Stone & Brick Co.
Michael Hardy who's grandfather worked at this brickworks has recently sent me this 1888 newspaper cutting & information relating to the role played by the Twentywell Brick Works in the construction of the Sheffield to Manchester Railway built between 1888 – 1893. Bricks from Twentywell were used in the construction of the Totley (Bradway) Tunnel.
Twentywellsick which is shown marked on the 1900 map below appears to have come from the 12th century name of the area, Quintinewelle - St. Quentin's Well & now it's modern variation Twentywell.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
Image reproduced with the permission of Coincraft.
From this Twenty Well Stone & Brick Co. Ltd. share certificate dated February 1871 & made out to Tedbar Tinker we know the Company was established at the beginning of 1871. An article found on the web records the Twentywell Stone & Brick Co. is listed in White's 1872 edition. Then the first trade directory that I have is Kelly's 1876 edition & the entry reads The Twenty-Well Stone & Brick Co. Abbeydale Road, Norton, Sheffield. Kelly's 1881 edition now records the address as Bradway, Norton, Sheffield. It is in Kelly's 1891 edition that Tedbar John Tinker is listed as Proprietor of the works & this entry continues until the 1908 edition.
Another newspaper cutting dated March 1898 & info from Michael relating to the sale of the freehold of the Twentywell Brickworks & Quarry and all outbuildings, plant and machinery, the Castle Inn and the adjacent row of dwellings and various properties at Bradway. The Quarry & Brickworks were leased to Tedbar Tinker with the lease shortly to expire.
Lot 1 below refers to the group of buildings which still stand today at the top of Twentywell Lane. The “corner grocer’s shop” now has a different use but is substantially unchanged since 1898. The “6 dwelling houses” listed includes the cottage occupied by the Slater family from the 1880s until after WWII. In 1898 the cottage was rented by my great grandfather William Slater, brick maker and his wife Annie Elizabeth and children and subsequently by his son, my grandfather Joseph Slater and his wife Annie Elizabeth and children including my mother Evelyn Slater born in the cottage in 1927. After Joseph Slater’s death at Twentywell Brick Works in 1928 his widow, my grandmother, continued with the tenancy until she remarried and moved to Sheffield.
Tedbar Tinker may have purchased the quarry & brickworks himself at this date with his lease ready to expiry, but at this moment I do not have this confirmation. He may have carried on leasing the land from the new owners.
The next entry I have for the works is in Kelly's 1928 edition when the listing is Twentywell Brick Co. Twentywell Lane, Dore, Sheffield & this entry continues to the 1935 edition. Tedbar's works closed in 1939 but it was the mid 1950's before the buildings & office were demolished. A housing estate now occupies this site.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
Malcolm Adlington has contacted me with information gathered by his relation Michael Hardy about his ancestors accidental death while working at Tedbar Tinker's Twentywell Brickworks in November 1928.
Sorry about the image quality. Joseph Slater died while he was cleaning & oiling the plant before the shift started & the go ahead for the machinery to be started had been given resulting in Joseph falling into the machinery.
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Malcolm has also sent me this 1930's photo of Joseph's children together with their friends the Wragg family in their garden of the works owned cottage. Note the 20 Well bricks displayed on the wall.
A Twentywell's advert sent by Malcolm, possibly dated late 1870's / 1880's.
Photo by Malcolm Adlington.
Photographed in Brimington, Chesterfield.
Many thanks to Malcolm Adlington for sending me his family history for this post which was researched & collated by his relation Michael Hardy, who is a grandson of Joseph Slater. Also thanks to Michael for the information he has sent me directly.
Klondyke Brick Co.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
The wonderfully named Klondyke Brick Company is listed in White's 1905 edition on Middlewood Road, Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield. Then Kelly's 1908 edition lists the Klondyke Brick Works on Middlewood Road. The name of this brickworks may have come from the nearby Klondyke Villas which were built in 1902. In 1912 the works is recorded as being owned by W.J. Patchett & then by G. Beaumont. By 1919 the works was owned by Daniel Doncaster & I write about him next.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
1900 O.S. map showing the location of the Klondyke brickworks situated near to Sheffield Wednesday's football ground & just across the road from the Don Brick Works, which I will cover later.
Photo by MF from the Frank Lawson Collection.
With this brick being stamped Klondyke Brick Works it may have been made in 1908 as per trade directory entry for this works.
Daniel Doncaster & Sons
Established in 1778 Daniel Doncaster & Sons were primarily forged steel producers & at the age 21 Daniel Doncaster registered his DD / diamond trade mark, making it one of the oldest in the world. By 1919 the company had branched out into the manufacture of bricks & had taken over the works previously run by the Klondyke Brick Co. Kelly's 1923 edition records Daniel Doncaster & Sons at the Klondyke Brickworks, Middlewood Road, Hillsborough, Sheffield. This entry is then repeated in Kelly's 1925 & 1935 editions. The company closed it's brickworks in 1936 & the site now has houses built on it. The location of Daniel Doncaster's brickworks can be seen on the 1900 OS map in the previous entry for the Klondyke Brick Co. I photographed the DD brick (below) at Wortley Top Forge Museum, so it may be a rarity with it not having the diamond symbol stamped into it.
Don Brick Co.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
The Don Brick Co. is listed in White's 1901 edition at Leppings Bridge, Sheffield.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
1900 map showing the location of the Don Brick Works on Leppings Lane which was situated across the road from Sheffield Wednesday's football ground.
Ripley, Hillsborough
Henry Ripley is listed as running his Walkley Lane Brickworks in Hillsborough in directories dating from 1900 to 1904. I have coloured this works green on the 1903 OS map below.
It appears Ripley also made the Hillsborough brick below & owned another brickworks at Loxley with Malc Gibbons finding his Hillsborough & Loxley brick.
Nunnery Colliery was sunk in the early 1860’s close to the city centre of Sheffield & a brickworks was established in the early 1900’s, producing half a million bricks per month. The colliery & brickworks were Nationalised in 1947 with the pit closing in 1953 & I also expect the brickworks closed at the same time. Today Parkway Avenue runs through the middle of this site with industrial units built on both sides.
The course of one of the railway lines which runs to the north of the colliery is now the tram route into the city centre & the Sheffield Parkway road now enters the city to the south of the colliery through the word Lane in Nunnery Lane.
I first start with events that took place in 1864 when the Great Sheffield Flood took place. An account of which can be read at this link & from where I have gathered the following information.
https://www2.shu.ac.uk/sfca/postscript.cfm
On the 11th & 12th of March 1864 the newly built Dale Dyke reservoir burst it's banks & flooded the Loxley valley resulting in loss of life, damage to houses & industrial properties. One of the claims for compensation was by Thomas Marshall & William Crapper who owned the Storrs Bridge brickworks in Loxley & were described as clay & brick dealers. Marshall & Crapper put in a claim for compensation which totalled to £1,600 pounds for the loss of their buildings, brick production & equipment etc.
Photo by Malc Gibbons reproduced courtesy of the "Old Bricks" website.
Nunnery Colliery Co.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.
The course of one of the railway lines which runs to the north of the colliery is now the tram route into the city centre & the Sheffield Parkway road now enters the city to the south of the colliery through the word Lane in Nunnery Lane.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
Produced at the colliery after 1947 with it being marked NCB - National Coal Board.
John Gregory & Sons
Trade directories have revealed that John Gregory & Sons over the years have owned five brickworks in Sheffield. So I start with White's 1879 edition & it lists John Gregory & Sons at 292, London Road (offices); works, Wolseley Road & Hurfield Hill, Gleadless, Sheffield & these two works are shown on the two maps below.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1892.
This 1892 OS map shows the Wolseley Road works in Lowfield & the 1897 OS map below shows the Hurl Field Hill works, but it is marked as disused by this date.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1897.
Kelly's 1881 edition just lists the company at it's office address of 292, London Road & works, Hurlfield, Gleadless. I then found many Notices in the London Gazette recording that the company of John Gregory & Sons had gone into Liquidation. The first dated 11th of November 1881 records that John Gregory the elder of Wostenholm Road, Sheffield, William Gregory of Hurlfield & John Gregory the younger of Highfield Place, Sheffield were all co-partners in this company, so I am taking it that William & John junior were the sons. The rest of these Notices record the various amounts of Dividend that John Gregory, the elder was to pay & the one dated 10th of June 1884 is the last one found. I am assuming it took just over two years to finally close this business. However, Kelly's 1893 edition records this entry in the brick makers section - John Gregory & Sons, 89, Wolseley Road, Sheffield, possibly home or an office address. So it appears at this date the company of John Gregory & Sons were still active & may have still been operating the Wolseley Road brickworks.
We then find in White's 1901 edition the entry for John Gregory & Son Limited, so I am assuming John Gregory the elder had sorted out his debts & this time formed a limited company in the same name. So White's 1901 edition lists Gregory's had three new works & the entry is as follows;- John Gregory & Sons Ltd., registered office, 623, Abbeydale Road & Sheaf brickworks; & Marriott Wood brickworks, Millhouses; & Ecclesall Road brickworks, Sheffield. Maps showing these three works are placed in the same order.
Sheaf Brickworks, Abbeydale Road (red).
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1903.
Marriott Wood Brickworks, Archer Road (red), Millhouses.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1903.
Ecclesall Road Brickworks.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1920.
A photo of the Ecclesall Road works can be seen at this link.
If you click on the zoom image tab, it opens a new page with a closer view of the brickworks.
Gregory's three brickworks continue to be listed in several directories up to White's 1911 edition. We then find in White's 1919 edition & from now on, only the Ecclesall Road works is listed, so the other two works must have closed by 1919. A Sheffield Telegraph article records that William Gregory at the age of 51, died on the 18th of October 1924 at The Gables, Hathersage & it states that he played an active roll in the running of the extensive business of John Gregory & Sons. The last trade directory that I have recording the Ecclesall Road works is Kellys 1935 edition. The exact date when this last of Gregory's brickworks closed is unknown, however I have found in a 1942 Ministry of War document regarding the status of brickworks during the war, if they are open or not, that the entry for John Gregory & Sons has been crossed out, so I am assuming the brickworks had closed by 1942.
Webster & Co.
Photo taken at Barlborough Heritage Centre.
As just wrote in the last entry the Marriott Wood Brickworks had been run to at least 1911 or even up to WW1 by John Gregory & Sons, but we find in Kelly's 1923 to 1935 editions the entry is Webster & Co, (Sheffield) Limited, manufacturers of silica bricks, fire bricks, magnesite, bricks, gangster, compo & building bricks at the Marriott Wood Works, Archer Road, Sheffield & trading as "Webco, Sheffield." A Ministry of War document dated 1942 records this works as being closed, but under the care of the Ministry. I have found during the war that many brickworks were used to store armaments. It is unknown for certain if this was the case for this brickworks, but I expect Sheffield played it's part in producing ammunition with it being a steel town & then storing them until they were needed. Whether this brickworks reopened after the war is unknown.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1920.
1920 map showing the location of Webster's brickworks on Archer Road which I have coloured yellow. Please note that some of the buildings on this map are different to the ones shown on the 1900 map in the Gregory entry, the clay pit had certainly expanded in size by this 1920 map.
A 1935 photo of this brickworks on Picture Sheffield can be seen at this link.
If you click on the zoom image tab, it opens a new page with a closer view of the brickworks.
Photo by Simon Patterson.
Thomas Marshall & William Crapper
William & Henry Crapper.
The Wisewood Brick Co. / Brick & Tile Co.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey revised 1901 published 1905.
https://www2.shu.ac.uk/sfca/postscript.cfm
On the 11th & 12th of March 1864 the newly built Dale Dyke reservoir burst it's banks & flooded the Loxley valley resulting in loss of life, damage to houses & industrial properties. One of the claims for compensation was by Thomas Marshall & William Crapper who owned the Storrs Bridge brickworks in Loxley & were described as clay & brick dealers. Marshall & Crapper put in a claim for compensation which totalled to £1,600 pounds for the loss of their buildings, brick production & equipment etc.
A full list can be read at this link. https://www2.shu.ac.uk/sfca/claimDetails.cfm?claim=5-4802
Marshall & Crapper are listed in White's 1879 edition as brickmakers in Loxley, Sheffield. We then find William Crapper & Thomas Marshall went their separate ways possibly before 1893. Thomas Marshall & Co. are next listed in Whites 1901 edition at Storrs Bridge, Loxley. Marshall then concentrated on producing refractory bricks, an example of which is shown next & is stamped Thomas Marshall Fire Brick Co. I have also acquiring a red brick version of this stamp mark, so some house bricks were produced by Marshall. Thomas Marshall & Co. are listed as exhibiting their products at the 1937 British Industries Fair in Birmingham. After the death of Thomas Marshall (I am taking this to be the son or grandson of the 1864 Thomas Marshall) in 1965 the Storrs Bridge works was then operated by Hepworth Refractories.
With Frank Lawson photographing this H. & W. C. brick I am taking it that William was now in partnership with his brother Henry. Henry Crapper is listed in Kelly's 1893 edition at Wisewood, Sheffield & the location of their works can be seen on the surveyed 1901/03 map below.
Charles Keyworth is recorded as the proprietor of the New Patent Plastic Brick Company on Halifax Road, Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield from 1898 to 1913. Mrs Elizabeth Brindley is then recorded as proprietress at the works in 1916. A gentleman on the Sheffield Forum website has put forward the theory that Mrs. Elizabeth Brindley could have been Charles' married daughter & had taken over the works after his death. The Wadsley Bridge works on Halifax Road is then recorded as being operated by the Sheffield Brick Co. in Kelly's 1919 edition & this works is still shown as being in operation on a map dated 1948.
This Wadsley Bridge Brick Co. brick could have been made by Charles before he renamed his company to the New Patent Plastic Brick Co. From the few trade directories that I do have dated 1901 to 1908, the works is listed as the N.P.P. Brick Co., so I am working on the theory that the company could have existed just as the Wadsley Bridge Brick Co. before 1901. Only by finding earlier trade directories will resolve this matter.
Marshall & Crapper are listed in White's 1879 edition as brickmakers in Loxley, Sheffield. We then find William Crapper & Thomas Marshall went their separate ways possibly before 1893. Thomas Marshall & Co. are next listed in Whites 1901 edition at Storrs Bridge, Loxley. Marshall then concentrated on producing refractory bricks, an example of which is shown next & is stamped Thomas Marshall Fire Brick Co. I have also acquiring a red brick version of this stamp mark, so some house bricks were produced by Marshall. Thomas Marshall & Co. are listed as exhibiting their products at the 1937 British Industries Fair in Birmingham. After the death of Thomas Marshall (I am taking this to be the son or grandson of the 1864 Thomas Marshall) in 1965 the Storrs Bridge works was then operated by Hepworth Refractories.
Meanwhile William Crapper together with his brother Henry moved further down the Loxley Valley to the Wisewood Brickworks & produced red house bricks there.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
With Frank Lawson photographing this H. & W. C. brick I am taking it that William was now in partnership with his brother Henry. Henry Crapper is listed in Kelly's 1893 edition at Wisewood, Sheffield & the location of their works can be seen on the surveyed 1901/03 map below.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey surveyed 1901/03 published 1906.
Another example of one of Henry & William's bricks.
With these two bricks being stamped exor, both Henry & William must have passed away.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
White's 1901 edition records the entry of Crappers Brick Co. Lim. with Robert Craig as secetary & registered office of 22 York Street, Sheffield & at Loxley. So I am taking it that Robert Craig was administrating the Crappers Brick Co. after William & Henry's deaths. Then further down the brick & tile makers section in this 1901 edition is the first listing for the newly formed Wisewood Brick Co. at Wisewood, Loxley, Sheffield with William Frankish as Managing Director. So it looks like this new company had taken over the Crappers' works in 1901 & an example of this new Company's bricks is shown below.
Photo taken at the Barlborough Heritage Centre.
The Wisewood Brick Co. is next recorded in the London Gazette as being voluntarily wound up at an extraordinary General Meeting of the Company on the 16th February 1904.
White's 1905 edition again records the Crappers Brick Co. & Robert Craig, but this time just with the office address. So the Crappers Brick Co. may have only existed as a registered company at this date. Also in this 1905 edition is a listing for The Wisewood Brick & Tile Co. at Wisewood, Loxley, Sheffield. So it now appears that a new company had been established in 1905 at the works after the Wisewood Brick Co. had been wound up in 1904. White's 1908 now records this works as the Wisewood Brick & Tile Co. Loxley Road, Malin Bridge.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
This frog design was used by many local brick companies & we can date it's introduction to around 1910. The Wisewood Brick & Tile Co. do not appear in White's 1919 edition & I have also found that the Boundary Rolling Mill had been built on the site of the former brickworks. So the brickworks had closed sometime between 1908 & 1919.
Photo by Simon Patterson.
Added 27.4.20. There are three options for the maker/s of this Loxley brick & these are Thomas Marshall & William Crapper at the Storrs Bridge Works or Thomas Marshall at the Storrs Bridge Works or the Crapper Brothers at the Wisewood Works.
C. Keyworth.
Photo taken at the Barlborough Heritage Centre.
Charles Keyworth is recorded as the proprietor of the New Patent Plastic Brick Company on Halifax Road, Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield from 1898 to 1913. Mrs Elizabeth Brindley is then recorded as proprietress at the works in 1916. A gentleman on the Sheffield Forum website has put forward the theory that Mrs. Elizabeth Brindley could have been Charles' married daughter & had taken over the works after his death. The Wadsley Bridge works on Halifax Road is then recorded as being operated by the Sheffield Brick Co. in Kelly's 1919 edition & this works is still shown as being in operation on a map dated 1948.
© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey revised 1901.
Photo by MF courtesy of the Frank Lawson Collection.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
The New Patent Plastic Brick Co. example above was more than likely made during Charles tenure of the works. The 'New Patent Plastic' part of the company's name suggests that the works was now using a Hoffmann type kiln to produce their bricks. Many brick companies which includes Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds & Leicester to name a few added Patent to their company name after they had built these patented Hoffman kilns which vastly increased their brick production output.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
Frank has found two examples of these key bricks in Sheffield, so he has suggested that Charles Keyworth may have made these bricks with the key mark being his trade mark.
Photo by Frank Lawson.
This Wadsley Bridge Brick Co. brick could have been made by Charles before he renamed his company to the New Patent Plastic Brick Co. From the few trade directories that I do have dated 1901 to 1908, the works is listed as the N.P.P. Brick Co., so I am working on the theory that the company could have existed just as the Wadsley Bridge Brick Co. before 1901. Only by finding earlier trade directories will resolve this matter.
I wish to thank the following in helping me bring the history of these Sheffield brickmakers to the web :-
Malcolm Adlington & Michael Hardy - 20 Well family info & photos
Frank Lawson - photos & info
Simon Patterson - photos
Barlborough Heritage Centre - photos
The contributors of the Sheffield History website
